1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a ramped and horizontal stretching bench for relieving spinal and muscle conditions contributing to back pain, and more particularly to a stretching bench that has moveable and adjustable settings for increasing the effectiveness of such relief.
In our stretch bench technology, an arm brace and hand hold assembly is located adjacent the horizontal bench's forward portion where it is readily available for use as stretching exercises are on-going. In one embodiment of our invention, bench bench stretching activities.
2. Description of prior Art
A large percentage of people today experience back pain in spite of the exercise craze sweeping the country. It has been stated that eighty per cent of the working population experience back pain some time during their working careers. In particular, some back pain requires surgery that might have been avoided had a proper stretching bench and stretching routine been available.
Most exercise equipment is ill suited to the major task at hand, namely--stretching for relief of back pain. Indeed, some exercise benches available today tend to promote, rather than cure, back-pain related problems.
Back problems are a serious employment problem in the United States where back-pain-related costs are estimated to be in the range of fifty billion dollars per year. Surgery, when performed is often only partially successful and repeated operations are sometimes required with a low success rate being available.
A search of the prior art has revealed that therapeutic back rest devices are well known. One typical device is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. Des. 322,730 and 4,927,139 issued on May 22, 1990 to Taltre. The Taltre device is a semi-circular bridge shape without any adjustability features. Moreover, the shape of the semi-circular Taltre arc, some experts argue, is detrimental rather than curative.
Other classes of related art devices are described in the description of the Taltre patent. Most such art reveals that various configurations of adjustable body rest boards are well known. Typical of some adjustable configuration is the U.S. patent to Engle, U.S. Pat. No. 5,050,589 issued on Sep. 24, 1991. The Engle patent shows an inverted V shape with hinges and locking pins requiring off-the-bench adjustments. one portion of an inverted V-shaped bench.
Another patent to Kecala U.S. Pat. No. 4,546,967 has a long front seat portion and a short rear seat portion each of which are independently off-the-bench adjustable. In the Kecala patent, exercises are the predominant concern with stick figures being used to demonstrate many variations on muscle development. The Kecala exercises particularly involve a foot, ankle or thigh locking roll. The Kecala device is of chair seat height rather than waist high and is particularly complex in its various adjustment features.
Howze U.S. Pat. No. Des. 299,501 is a fixed rail bench of stepped configuration, and Johnson U.S. pat. No. Des. 277,21 9 is a low to the floor abdominal exercise bench with foot and ankle locking rolls. Cordon U.S. Pat. No. Des. 320,824 likewise discloses another variation on a foot and ankle locking roll in combination with a slanted seat.
A patent to Perrine, U.S. Pat. No. 3,817,243 discloses the use of a roller as a body massage device while the user does abdominal exercises. Hinged body rest boards are adjustable but do not provide any stretching capability as first disclosed and taught in this application.
Another body of prior art deals with various configurations of body mats that sometimes are shown piled into slanted or other body positioning configurations. Typical of such art are Prager U.S. Pat. No. 4,941,222 and Eary U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,384.
We have determined that none of the known prior art provides a body position device at waist height having a fixed ramp and horizontal body board combined together with a forward located arm brace and hand hold assembly for a series of stretching, self mobilization and/or traction movements. Additionally both on-bench and off-the-bench adjustability features are presented in this invention. The stretching bench invention allows the user to achieve isolation and relief of stress on a user's spinal discs, vertebrae and related back muscles.